Annotation

This collection focuses on the middle years of the Ottoman Empire, from 1453 to 1839.

Publisher Description

A groundbreaking reinterpretation of the middle years of the Ottoman Empire, from the conquest of Byzantium in 1453 to the establishment of the Tanzimat in 1839. This period saw the evolution of the Empire from the height of its powers to - as the traditional view has it - an empire in decline, unable to modernise in the face of globalisation and European ascendancy. The contributors challenge this view, demonstrating how the Ottomans came to be modern on their own terms. They explore the Ottomans as politicians and diplomats, military reformers, artists and historians. They also map out and redefine the material worlds which they inhabited - the courthouse, the cemetery, the Turkish garden. This book, which represents a turning-point in the intellectual history of the Ottoman Empire, promises to become a key text for students, scholars and anyone interested in the Ottoman world.

Review '... Aksan and Goffman's collection is an excellent example of what Ottoman history can be when the skilful close reading of texts traditionally valued by Ottomanists is seen as a means, rather than as an end, to research. ... The volume is thus both a valuable contribution to Ottoman studies - furthering research on well-established topics such as diplomacy, urban planning, or military reform - and an effective discussion of historical space and time broadly conceived.' Journal of Islamic Studies

Author Biography

Virginia H. Aksan is Associate Professor of History at McMaster University, Ontario. Her publications include An Ottoman Statesman in War and Peace: Ahmed Resmi Efendi, 1700-1783 (1995) and Ottomans and Europeans: Contacts and Conflicts (2004). Daniel Goffman is Professor and Chair of History at DePaul University and author of Britons in the Ottoman Empire; Izmir and the Levantine World (1998), and The Ottoman Empire and Early Modern Europe (2002).

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